


Unusual Battlefield

by Ailec_12



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Episode: s04e11 Shattered Sight, Family Feels, Gen, One Shot, more or less anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 17:50:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19178356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ailec_12/pseuds/Ailec_12
Summary: There is a reason why the Evil Queen chose a sword to fight Snow White in the Sheriff's station during the spell of shattered sight.





	Unusual Battlefield

**Author's Note:**

> I'm moving my work from FF and decided to start with my first fanfiction ever. It was written and published back in 2015, so I went over it again to correct any mistakes and make it easier to read, but the story stays the same. I hope you enjoy reading and leave a kudo or a comment (or both!).

The first time Regina took up a sword, she had been begging one of her family’s soldiers for days in order for him to finally agree. It had all started when Daniel, their new stable boy and her new friend, suggested that they played sword fight. Like all the other games he had talked about, Regina had never tried it, but she agreed with a delighted squeak right away. They had spent hours trying to poke each other with wooden sticks, between Daniel’s slight taunts and Regina’s retorts. After they had exhausted themselves, the little girl had told him she wanted to learn real sword fighting. However, Daniel had laughed and replied that it was not possible. His amusement, if it was ever truly there, did not last long, though, for he had a sad voice when he argued that he was a stable boy and she was a girl. There were things they were just not meant to be. Regina shrugged it off without another word, not understanding yet those things her friend sometimes talked about. Thus, as stubborn as always, she had not stopped until the soldier had allowed her to hold his sword. It was far heavier than she had expected and she was barely able to get the point off the ground while holding the sword with both hands. The man explained to her that a swordsman should first build his strength before thinking of wielding a real blade in combat. In the end, any affection he may have felt for the little lady was overshadowed by the fear that the entire household felt towards their mistress, Regina’s mother. And so, he refused her other request: learning to sword fight.

The second time Regina held a sword, it also belonged to a soldier. Only this time, she was the Queen and she demanded the sword and the lessons. Fear, not of the young monarch, but rather of the King threatened to hinder her wishes once more. Risking her stoic, regal façade, Regina promised no one would ever know and so, they began their practice in an abandoned small room. Those times became her only glimpses of freedom. Focused on honing her new skill, she let herself smile sincerely at every accomplishment. It made her caged life more bearable, but of course, nothing was ever so simple for her.

Snow found out a few weeks later, while she was wandering around the palace looking for her stepmother. The young Queen was then afraid that another secret would be revealed and freedom taken away from her once again. She summoned the best part of herself, the one that could not completely hate the girl —at least, on the good days. She put on her most radiant smile, although she knew that Snow thought none of those had the light of the first ones Regina used to offer. Again, she made Snow promise she would not say a word about what she had just witnessed, even if, by then, such promises were hardly worth believing. Still, Regina explained that the King, should he know, would never allow them to continue the lessons. The girl immediately asked for permission to join and the older brunette granted it, supposing Snow would keep her mouth shut if only to be able to spend time with her stepmother and play with swords.

It was not a hard decision, but like many other things, later on Regina would convince herself that she regretted it. At the beginning, she did have to make a great effort to be nice with the princess for so long. They drilled the moves that the soldier showed them and, if he had enough time, he would spar with the Queen while Snow watched. Eventually, the girl managed to persuade Regina to meet just the two of them and practise some more.

The woman forced herself to keep a strict control of her actions in order not to injure her stepdaughter. If the eleven-year-old appeared hurt by her hand, clandestine lessons would be the least of her problems. She was always so angry she almost scared herself; and the smiles of the childish princess only fuelled that anger. But when they faced each other with steel, the world disappeared together with those troublesome smiles. For a few seconds, they both were focused on winning. For a few seconds, Regina could forget she was the prisoner of the child’s father, as before she had been her mother’s. For a few seconds, Snow could see the smallest glimpses of the woman she had first met. For a few seconds, they fought and felt closer than ever.

One early morning, Snow found an opening in Regina’s defense for the very first time and it filled Regina with unexpected pride. She felt her lips twitch upwards almost without her consent. It was the tiniest and briefest of the smiles, but it was the best congratulations Snow could have hoped for. From then on, the girl could smile at her small victories with no fear of souring her stepmother’s mood. There may not be an openly noticeable change outside their lessons —Regina continued accompanying her to the gardens and to horse riding and tucking her in at nights—, but Snow felt her hugs warmer, as well as her words. She never confessed to the Queen that, actually, she had soon grown tired of the sword fighting sessions, but she had stayed because those were the only moments when she had felt they belonged as a family.

For almost two years, it was that way. Revenge started to sound odd and unreal, whereas her bond with Snow fuelled her doubts about learning magic. Then, someone told something, the King found out and Regina was punished —and so, humiliated— with isolation. Not the first time and certainly not the last, either, for even her mother had been unable to erase her insolence. Later, Daniel did not come back, her fear did not go away and magic looked like the only thing she could rely on. The only way she could have absolute freedom at last.

Life was quite ironic, even if one did not see the future. Years later, under the spell of shattered sight, her first choice, the most natural one to fight Snow after having agreed not to use magic, was a sword. Since the days of the Enchanted Forest, when they were a family and when they were not, the former bandit had learnt much. Since then, they had faced each other on many battlefields, too. Fortunately for Regina that day, on the battlefield, even on the most unusual one, promises were not always kept and whatever words the Queen and the princess uttered went away with their fairy tale identities.


End file.
